Apparently Curt Schilling doesn’t regret his endorsement of President Bush after all: The Sox hero has recorded automatedphone calls backing Bush that will be made until Election Day.

That’s very cool, and a smart campaign move. I personally am still in awe of what Shilling pulled off in the ALCS with his ankle being in the conditioin that it was and all. That’s what the playoffs are all about.

However, in response to Schilling joining the Bush campaign, Kerry’s campaign attempted to counter the PR with…..

Pedro? No
Manny? No
Ortiz? No

Red Sox Executives? Yes!

Kerry, sensing an opening, got team owners John Henry and Tom Werner and general manager Theo Epstein to campaign with him today in Manchester, [NH].

Now let us weigh and compare the popularity of a player (currently with heroic status) versus executives?

Heinz also reminded writer Sasha Issenberg of Pat Buchanan by saying, “One of the things I’ve noticed is the Israel lobby – the treatment of Israel as the 51st state, sort of a swing state.” Buchanan was blasted as an anti-Semite years ago when he cited Israel’s “amen corner” in Congress.

If you didn’t think the campaign had hit the gutter yet….doesn’t this convince you?

That is to say, I like getting an extra hour of sleep and all in the fall, but the thing is, my brain and body don’t like having its circadian rhythms shifted around…and consequently throws me for a loop over the course of a couple of days….ugh…

One of the things the Bush campaign may be banking on for a high turnout of socially conservative voters in Ohio is Issue 1, a proposed constitutional ammendment which would ban all same-sex unions/marriage in the state. [text of the ammendment]

About the Osama Bin Laden tape, did you know that only 5 minutes of the tape were shown on Al-Jazeera…and that the tape actually runs for 18 minutes….

What do the other 13 minutes of the tape say? I’m really curious to know about that.
Especially since I find it suprising that Bin Laden would release a tape, that would air during Ramadan, without references to the festival.

Anyone know of a site with a xomplete transxript of Osama’s latest tape?
The one Drudge has is only partial…

I’ve got thoughts on the tape…but I’d rather see all the rhetoric rather than the excerpts. Cause something seems odd with the text I’ve seen thus far.

In short, from the transcripts I’ve seen, there’s a suprising absence of traditional Islamist rhetoric, nor are there any references to Islamic history that one expects to read/hear in these tapes. That’s what really strikes me–because Bin Laden usually makes refernces to events in Islamic history, which are important, that those familiar with the history pick up on–and to others are irrelevant. (I learned a lot getting to hear both Bernard Lewis and Walid Phares speak in person during my last two years of undergrad). That’s why I want to see the full transcript.

Basically, a bunch of researchers used an fMRI machine to scan the brains of members of different political affiliations, and then compare regions that were activated in response to seeing different images. Then after making statistical comparisons (of activity) in different parts of the brain, they identify the levels of activation in various regions. (If anyone wants more of an explanation of fMRI see this link; be advised it’s a page for the general public rather than scientists)

What did the researchers find?

The researchers’ conclusion: At a subconscious level, Republicans were apparently not as bothered by what Democrats found alarming.

That’s not really suprising, is it? I’m sure the converse is true.

Personally, I think that “studies” like this are rather pointless, and a waste of good technological resources, time and money. Especially since the results were rather predictable. Nor am I a big fan of this idea of “neuromarketing” (which they discuss at the end of the article). I’m a bit weary of that type of practice.

Since we now know that CBS wanted to hold the Al-Qaqaa story till Sunday night (before the election)

But the NY Times broke it early…fearing “leaks on the internet”…

Now that we know how much of a farce the whole story is…perhaps it’s better that it got broken early, that way it can be totally shot down and discredited, and therefore, won’t pack the same “punch” it would have had as if it ran at the 11th hour (Sunday night)…

Word has it that President Bush called Curt Schilling from Air Force One to thank him for the endorsement on Good Morning America. AS MUCH AS I HATE TO SAY IT, I betcha they’ll have him on the stump with W (he sure sounded willing on Good Morning America) in New Hampshire or Philly this weekend. (And yes, this is a smart and good thing, obnoxious Yankee fan admits on the public record.)